For the second time in the last five months, popular English pro Eddie Pepperell isn’t playing the weekend in a European Tour event because he’s been disqualified.
Pepperell, playing this week in the Qatar Masters caught a mistake on his scorecard made by his playing partner and official scorekeeper, only to make another mistake himself, which led to him signing an incorrect scorecard.
According to Pepperell’s recounting of the series of events on Twitter, he entered the scoring tent to sign for an even-par opening round of 71 at Education City Golf Club in Doha when he noticed that while the total score was correct, two of his hole scores were incorrect.
“My total, 71, was correct and I indeed signed for that,” Pepperell wrote on Twitter. “However, my partner had me down for a 5 on one hole where I made a 6, and a 4 on another, where I made 3.
“I picked him up on it and I changed the card to reflect the fact I actually made a 6 on hole 11 as opposed to a 5, and a 3 on hole 16 as opposed to a 4. I then however mistakenly changed the 17th hole not the 16th hole on my scorecard, and handed it in.”
I picked him up on it and I changed the card to reflect the fact I actually made a 6 on hole 11 as opposed to a 5, and a 3 on hole 16 as opposed to a 4. I then however mistakenly changed the 17th hole(??♂️?), not the 16th hole on my scorecard, and handed it in…
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) March 5, 2020
Pepperell labeled the incident “quite disappointing.” He said he asked an official if there was any respite under the Rules for his mistake since it was made in a good-faith effort to correct an existing mistake. The official told Pepperell that it had no bearing on the decision to disqualify him.
The rules are the rules and I 100% accept that, but I can’t help feeling that this particular way of disqualification is a fair distance away from common sense, and that’s also disappointing. I enjoyed the course however and hopefully next time I’ll do a better job ?
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) March 5, 2020
“The rules are the rules, and I 100% accept that, but I can’t help feeling that this particular way of disqualification is a fair distance away from common sense, and that’s also disappointing,” Pepperell concluded.
Pepperell’s even-par round would have put him in a tie for 64th place after 18 holes, seven shots back of first-round leader Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark.
Pepperell was also disqualified in November of last year at the Turkish Airlines Open when he walked off the course in the third round after hitting five balls into a water hazard. He was DQ’d for “failure to complete a hole.”
